Status Whoa!

Imagine achieving everything you've ever wanted out of life. Imagine having enormous fame, a massive personal fortune, and the respect and admiration of millions of Americans. Then imagine having built it all yourself, coming from nothing (or even worse, growing up in an abusive home and dropping out of high school) and creating this amazing new life from scratch. What would you do next?

The correct answer: Change everything.

What? Hold on a minute.

Isn't the whole point of "having it made" to never need to worry about making it ever again?

Well, consider the curious case of Tyler Perry. Since he started his movie career a decade ago, Perry has written and directed 13 feature films; two were released this year alone. He has also penned a bestselling book, launched three successful television shows, and built the 200,000-square-foot Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. According to Forbes magazine, Perry earned $130 million in 2011. (He's also a genius businessman who owns the rights to his work.) And in the process, he also managed to amass a personal heft of 255 pounds—which was just fine for a man whose primary film role was as Madea, an enormous older woman with a comical nasty streak.

So with all that success, Perry went and changed everything. He shed his harmless, lovable image to play an angry, troubled detective in the film Alex Cross. And he shed 30 pounds on the way to transforming himself from cuddly character actor into dangerous leading man. "I walk into a room with a lot more confidence now," he says. And it doesn't hurt that Mr. Nice Guy has been taking Israeli martial arts lessons as part of his personal overhaul. Madea with a black belt? Yikes!

Being willing to change the status quo—even if the status quo is pretty damn good—is a hallmark of a lifetime of physical and emotional health. New workouts to challenge your body, new careers and hobbies to challenge your mind—they keep the mangy dog of self-satisfaction from running you down midway through the race.

So to this end we're giving you a special guidebook to shaking things up. In this issue you'll find a sneak preview of Best Life, the new magazine from the team here at Men's Health. It's a magazine geared to the man who's already made it—and who wants to remake it, again and again. The list of contributors to the premiere issue of Best Life reads like a who's who of men at the top of their game: Success secrets from Dr. Oz. Original fiction from John Grisham. Mentoring advice from Newark mayor Cory Booker. Plus the top doctors in every field—from cardiology to weight loss to antiaging—tell you what they eat for dinner and why.

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